Melinda Metz - The Intruder

Adam backed up a few steps, then he turned around and made for the door. He took huge gulps of the fresh air as he hurried down the street. Reality had just taken a very strange turn.

Was that how most humans saw aliens? As horrible things that were going to come and get them? Things they had to shoot on sight? Was it true? Were there aliens like that?

The questions bubbled in his brain. He checked his watch. He looked up and noticed that place, that eating place where Liz worked. Liz should be at work.

He picked up his pace as he continued down the street, going faster and faster until he was running. He'd feel better when he saw Liz. She could explain how humans really felt about aliens.

But that wasn't the only reason he wanted to see her. There was something about Liz. He wasn't sure what to call it. When he was around her, he felt one hundred percent real.

"Have you seen Adam?" Max demanded.

"He wasn't in the shed?" Liz cried. She dropped the sponge she'd been using to wipe down the cafe's counter.

"Would I be asking if you'd-" Max stopped himself. "No, I just came from there. Was he in the shed before school? When's the last time you saw him?"

"I brought some breakfast to him this morning. And I told him you would be there as soon as you could," Liz answered.

What was he thinking, leaving Adam alone? It was only his second day out of the compound. Third, if you counted the first night. Two, three, it didn't matter. Adam was like a little kid. Max wouldn't have left a little kid by himself.

"Max, whatever you're thinking, stop it," Liz demanded, her voice harsh. "You can't take responsibility for everything. It's insane."

Sometimes he hated the way she always seemed to know what he was thinking.

Maria rushed up. "What's wrong? I could tell there was something wrong all the way across the room. One of you start talking."

"Adam wasn't in the shed," Liz said. "Maria, a guy at table four is waving his coffee cup."

"Pretend you don't see him," Maria answered. "He's had way too much caffeine already. So what are we going to do about Adam?"

"How has he been acting?" Max asked Liz. "Do you think he could have decided to take off?"

"No, I don't think so. He's been excited and curious-like a little kid. Yesterday morning, he picked some gardenias and asked me what they were. I explained that they were flowers-living things-and that we would have to put them in water before they died. He felt terrible. It was so cute," Liz said, smiling.

"So, do you think he left the shed to go out and explore?" Maria asked.

"Yeah, maybe. There was one weird thing that happened. He asked if he could touch my face, because he had never touched a girl-"

"So you let him?" Max asked impatiently.

"Yeah, I let him. It didn't seem creepy, just innocent," Liz said. "Afterward I told him-firmly-that he couldn't just go around touching people. And he reacted kind of strangely, like I had scolded him. Do you think maybe it hurt his feelings or something?"

"I don't think so," Maria said.

"I don't know," Liz said. "He's not really used to-"

"Well, you can ask him yourself because he just walked in," Maria interrupted. "The bad news is that he's with Elsevan DuPris."

"Oh, great. Just perfect," Max muttered. "Now DuPris will have a great story for his ridiculous alien paper. 'I Had Dinner with an Alien.'"

"That's actually kind of tame. The Astral Projector would probably give it a title like, 'An Alien Ate My Brains for Dinner,'" Maria said. Then she winced. "Sorry. Just nervous."

"I'm going to go over there and see if I can tell if Adam has said anything we need to worry about," Liz told them.

"What excuse are you going to use? For going up to them, I mean?" Maria asked.

"Uh, I thought I'd disguise myself as a waitress," Liz answered.

"Sorry. Just really nervous," Maria said.

Max watched Liz cross the restaurant. He couldn't help noticing that Adam's eyes were locked on her. He wasn't even blinking.

"It's a crush," Maria told him. "You know, like the one you had on that girl Raina freshman year."

Max watched Liz turn the charm on DuPris, getting him to talk. And he watched Adam watching Liz. That is so not important right now, he told himself. You can talk to Adam about Liz later. But his eyes kept going to Adam, and he felt relieved when Liz headed back toward him.

"We have nothing to worry about," Liz reported when she got back to Max and Maria. "DuPris is off on one of his southern-fried tangents. Telling one of his amusing stories about drinking mint julep with grandpap. No alien talk at all."

"We still have to get Adam out of here," Max said. "What if Valenti happens to drive by or something?"

Liz pulled her order pad out of her pocket. "All I need is an order of spaghetti with extra sauce."

"Okay, I know I'm the queen of the dim today, but why?" Maria asked.

"Oh, come on. You know how clumsy I am," Liz answered.

Maria smiled. "Ah, the old spaghetti-in-the-lap trick. An extreme but effective tactic. You haven't used it in a while."

"You've done this before?" Max asked.

"Only when some way too friendly guy tries to slip a tip in my pocket-from the inside," Liz told him. She grabbed a water pitcher and started back toward Adam and DuPris.

From the inside. That meant-

"Here, smell this." Maria thrust one of her aromatherapy vials into his hand. "It's great for getting rid of feelings of jealousy."

Max rolled the vial between his fingers as he watched Adam watching Liz. "I'm not sure it's going to be enough."

"Maybe we should use the rest of the drive time to go over some basic, not rules, but, you know, normal behavior stuff," Liz suggested.

Isabel shot another look at Adam. He didn't seem to be offended. She wondered if he even got what Liz meant. He wasn't stupid or anything, but he'd just had so little experience.

"Yeah, Adam," Max said. "Remember what I told you about using your powers? You can't connect to people except us, okay? People don't like it if you know things about them they haven't actually told you."

"I have one," Maria jumped in. "No matter what, you must always leave the toilet seat up after you pee. If you don't, people will get suspicious."

"Don't mess with his head like that," Isabel told her.

"I'm not. I'm trying to help him figure out what typical guy behavior is," Maria protested.

"What else?" Adam asked. "I need to know this stuff."

Isabel smiled. Adam was starting to talk a little more. He must be starting to feel more secure around them.

"Okay, Maria's right," Isabel said. "Most guys leave the seat up. But if you want to be the kind of guy who is able to, say, attract a girl, then you should resist your natural guy instincts and put the seat down."

"What else?" Alex asked, without looking at her. "I'm curious to know what else a guy needs to do to attract a girl."

Aw, someone needs a Band-Aid for his poor trampled feelings, Isabel thought. Then she immediately felt bad. She'd been kind of relieved that yesterday's fight had exploded into a breakup, but it's not like she was happy that she'd hurt him.

"Come on, Isabel. I really want to know," Alex said.

Isabel promised herself she'd say something to Alex later, some kind of it's-not-you-it's-me thing to try and take away some of the bad feeling between them. But she wasn't going to do it in front of everyone.

"All right," she answered. "If you want to be a typical guy, fart whenever you want and then make some stupid joke about it, like, 'I'lll have to stop feeding the dog so much cheese.' But if you want to be the other kind of guy, one who actually can get a girl, leave the room when you have to do that kind of thing."